SEEC Building Resilient Housing Task Force Leads Call to Protect DOE’s Cost-Saving, Energy-Efficiency Program
Washington, D.C. – The Co-Chairs of the House Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition (SEEC) Building Resilient Housing Task Force Reps. Dave Min (CA) and Johnny Olszewski (MD), along with 37 of their colleagues, sent a letter to U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Chris Wright opposing a recently proposed rule that will make it substantially harder to adopt new efficiency standards that drive energy- and cost-savings for American families and businesses.
“We write to express our strong opposition to the Department of Energy’s (DOE) recently proposed rule for the Appliance and Equipment Standards Program. In 2024 alone, the Program’s product efficiency standards collectively saved U.S. consumers and businesses nearly $105 billion on their utility bills. The proposed rule would make it substantially harder for DOE to build on this progress and adopt new efficiency standards by increasing unnecessary government regulations and erecting a series of time-consuming steps and restrictions that were never mandated by Congress,” the Members wrote.
“The current DOE process already requires proving that new product standards yield significant energy- and cost-savings without imposing strict consumer choice limitations. The newly proposed DOE rule would effectively subvert the intent of Congress by imposing politically motivated requirements, for example, increasing deference to industry-developed test procedures and standards and establishing a minimum savings threshold that would block standards that deliver as much as $35 billion in energy cost savings. Together, these changes would considerably delay, and in many cases block new product efficiency standards and the consumer cost-savings they would otherwise deliver.”
Read the full letter here.
Background
Households across the United States have faced skyrocketing energy costs over the past year. Residential electricity prices have increased by more than 16% nationally since January 2025, which is more than triple the rate of current inflation. As a result, about one in six U.S. households are already behind on their energy bills. To address this financial strain on Americans, incentives to construct more energy-efficient homes will be essential.
SEEC’s Building Resilient Housing Task Force focuses on building out our housing stock in a way that addresses the dual crises of housing affordability and climate change. Access to safe, high-quality, and attainable housing should be a fundamental right, which is why we need to support market-based, mixed-income approaches that can meet the needs of families at all income levels. At the same time, our nation's housing stock is one of the largest sources of carbon emissions, presenting a transformative opportunity to fight climate change while promoting housing that is more resilient and sustainable. The Task Force will therefore focus on multifaceted solutions that meet the urgency of our housing crisis—addressing ballooning insurance rates due to extreme weather events; investing in energy-efficient upgrades and renewables to lower utility bills; and building new housing that helps connect Americans to essential services like reliable transportation and workforce opportunities.